Pine Island Glacier Ice Flows and Elevation Change 

The highly dynamic Pine Island Glacier, located on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is a large ice stream—a region of the ice sheet that moves significantly faster than the surrounding ice. Scientists know that ice speeds in this area have increased dramatically from the late 1990s to the present as the ice shelves in this area have thinned and the bottom of the ice has lost contact with the bed beneath. As the ice accelerates, the ice upstream is stretched more vigorously, causing it to thin. 

This animation shows changes in ice velocity as well as elevation changes from 2002 to 2011. NASA-sponsored aircraft missions first measured the ice surface height in this region in 2002, followed by the Ice, Clouds, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) between 2002 and 2009, and then the Operation IceBridge aircraft missions from 2009 to present. Integrating these altimetry sources allow scientists to estimate surface-height changes across the most important drainage glacier in the region. They have found that large and accelerating elevation changes extend inland from the coast on Pine Island Glacier, shown in this animation. 


For more information: 
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3889 

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